Posted By RichC on March 8, 2015
Canada’s central bank is urging citizens to stop defacing their $5 notes in a tribute to deceased actor Leonard Nimoy (3/26/1931-2/27/2015). In a trend dubbed “Spocking,” Canadians have taken to drawing pointy ears and tiled brows on top of Canada’s seventh prime minister, Sir. Wilfrid Laurier, to make him look like Mr. Spock, the half-Vulcan, half-human Star Trek character made famous by Nimoy
Posted By RichC on March 7, 2015
It’s great to see your kids making the most of their situation. In the case of Taylor who often feels “stuck” in North Dakota … especially in the winter … he continues to fine interesting and new things to do. This early March weekend he went ice fishing with his northern buddies not far from Williston, ND. As you can see, the Northern Pike were out looking for whatever bait Taylor put down thru the hole in the ice.
It does bring back a few memories for me since I spent many a day ice fishing on Lake Erie as a boy … some with my grandfather and dad … others just by myself enjoying the solitude. I admit though that I preferred the ice shanty or at least windbreak to sitting huddled over a hole trying to say warm.
Well done Taylor!
Posted By RichC on March 7, 2015
A catch up post since hear in Cincinnati we have had a much snowier February and early March than usual … although a change is coming, so I hear?
Sharing a few medical concerns:
Activities this first week of March have revolved around medical care for a few in my family. Most pressing concerns are about the chemo treatments for my niece Sarah dealing with her growing inoperable optic tumor “fingering” into her brain. She has lived dealing with and knowing it would eventually grow since she was 4. It has primarily only affected her eyesight up until now, but doctors keeping close checks on it have noted changes, most likely do to hormones during the teenage years. Please pray that the rounds of chemotherapy drug treatment and continued nutritional intake can keep this monster under control and give Sarah as normal of life as possible while she finishes high school and plans for college … and maybe even get her back sailing again? She is a great GOD LOVING girl … pray for her and her family.
As for the somewhat more “normal” health concerns, Brenda’s mom had a fractured vertebrae repaired with Kyphoplasty Surgery. She would prefer to be home, but needs to rehab before she can comfortably live with her daughters. And finally my dad, he fell and fractured his pelvis in two locations. Unfortunately falling and fractures are all too common for the elderly and the healing process along with physical therapy painful. His hospital stay will shift to acute in-house rehab in as much as he can tolerate it which hopefully will enable him to move around on his own. Thankfully all are doing well for now and I am confident they will be back home soon.
Posted By RichC on March 6, 2015
One of the reasons for adding the @Blogsyapp to my iPad is so I have an easy way to write and include the media items that I often post. So far, it is almost as easy as using my notebook computer and the “no longer supported” Microsoft Livewriter software. I say “almost as easy” since I’ve posted nearly 5000 post using Livewriter and it is as comfortable as an old pair of shoes. Although Blogsy was mentioned earler in the week, it is so helpful that it deserves a TechFriday post.
I decided to give Blogsy a test at 30,000 feet earlier in the week as I traveled in the evening on a plane. The biggest advantage is that text can be entered when disconnected even though access to the the Internet was limited to Southwest Airline‘s “free” TV services … which I was watching on the iPhone while typing. It makes me smile at just how connected we are nowadays.
Posted By RichC on March 5, 2015
This months bill should be a interesting test for our Ting cellphone service. I will eventually add billing information to this post (below). With two iPhones on our account and a little more travel this past 4 week invoice, we used a few more minutes and megabytes than usual on our phones, but no matter, as it will still be lower than Sprint, Verizon and AT&T.
The Ting service is the most economical IF you can stay within their predetermined monthly “chunks” for lack of a better term in order stay in the lower priced tiers. Each jump makes a big impact on a monthly invoice. Originally though, when I mention my disappointment with a significant increase in a monthly bill based on our account being a few minutes (or megabytes) over … the customer rep told me not to be worried with slight overages as Ting often monitors their customers and keeps them in the lower tier. If this is the case, it is smart PR.
We’ll see how February’s bill is handled considering I “think” we were a few phone minutes over and I know we were a few megabytes over the lower billing tiers? (this will be a good test and I’ll include the info below when it is available!)
UPDATE: The Ting bill arrived and is about as fair as they could be with the minutes used (was over by 1 minute but billed me for lower level). I used both the Freedompop Voice and Text app and Google Hangout app to make free outbound calls over WiFi which keeps minutes off my Ting bill and probably saved me the L to XL bump of $17+tax — a nice savings each month. Compare your “necessary” use and consider looking into Ting as it definitely saves money without sacrificing in quality (in fact, Ting customer service is way above average).
Posted By RichC on March 4, 2015
Elegant, but simple solution to fitting and securing one of the new Mantus anchors or other modern anchor on the bow roller. Eventually I’d like to upsize our Bruce claw anchor (photo below) and will be looking at the Mantus or Rocna.
Posted By RichC on March 3, 2015
“Nothing that's worthwhile is ever easy” wrote Nicholas Sparks; that must be true since getting Encore's Volvo diesel back in shape is testing my patience and finances (but then we're talking about a boat, so that second part is a given). Thankfully I have a very experience diesel mechanic who keeps one boat here in Florida and another up on Lake Champlain. I'll let you guess where he spends the winter?
The list of repairs has grown since taking components off one by one to get to the original problem has found other things that need to be addressed. Some of the inexpensive (relatively) items that I intended to fix like a new anti-siphon valve required new hoses and hose clamps. Then the removal of the alternator in order to get to the heat exchanger was a blessing in disguise since the bearings were gravelly and while in the alternator shop they replaced the rectifier (converts the AC power to DC). In the case of our sailboat's alternator, it is high outputs so having it rebuilt for $185 makes more sense than replacing.
Originally I really just wanted Tim to look at a “leaky” injector (which he pulled out and cleaned) as it was not getting a full burn due to poor compression. I'm hoping that there aren't any deeper issues with the engine and that reseating this injector will correct the problem.
While primarily focused was on the diesel problems, I also worked on the pressure water system and had to smile after seeing just how nice the new galley faucet worked. Unfortunately after I fixed one leak in the “plastic” waterlines, I've found another in a less than accessible place. Oh well, something for the next trip.
New faucet in galley
One of the last things we found when putting the engine back together was a “stuck” digital multi-state voltage regulator. This is the device which controls or “regulates” the charge rate coming from the alternator to the battery back. These smart devices need to be programmed so as not to overheat the alternator or batteries but assist in rapidly charging. So, I've order a new updated Balmar model from PKYS Inc in order to save a few dollars and with free shipping.
Order from PKYS Inc 3/2/2015
Posted By RichC on March 2, 2015
Just as it was in the French Revolution, I’m back and forth telling A Tale of Two Cities and “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” so to speak. I spent the weekend taking care of a condo rental issue in Delray Beach, Florida and of course was staying on the sailboat finalizing the diesel repair, or so I hope??? The first issue was solved, the second has become a bigger deal than I initially thought … but SO VERY glad to find a few things before being on the water and having an emergency. The “best of times” part is that I escaped the cold and snow of Cincinnati, the “worst of times” is that it rained constantly (but was 70° F). Three of the four overhead Lewmar hatches leaked (I knew about) and so kept my plastic and buckets catching the drips … and was prevented from sleeping in the aft berth. I did take the opportuinity to mark all the leaky spots that someone has time and time again attempted to sloppily repair. The only real option is going to be removing and having them rebedded. $$$
I also replace the manual galley pump that I repaired; I had to make an epoxy plug (no wood glue) after “digging out” the old broken off rusted screw. Hey, it worked (above).
The final frustration was heading into the marina bathroom and noticing all the showers seemed to be in use … with the water running? Hmm … I looked under the curtains after a few minutes and realized there wasn’t anybody in them and yet the water was running in all three? Hm … so I shut them off and proceed to take my … yes you guessed it … cold shower. Grrr … hoodlums at the marina or a disgruntled sailor?
Posted By RichC on March 2, 2015
Really, I’m just looking to make a test post and include a photo to see how a new app called Blogsy does from the iPad. The feature-rich app offer an excellent platform to post to a variety of blogs and has nearly every familiar feature from Microsoft’s dead or dying LiveWriter. Besides not having to haul along my notebook (hopefully), this could be one of the last pieces of this “road warriors” arsenal when I travel. We’ll see?
The photo is a innovative toothbrush that I would have loved to have had as a kid. What do you think?
Posted By RichC on March 1, 2015
Let's get started.
→ Service Settings. Then choose your blog platform and fill in your information.
to get to all post information.
to start a new post or open a local draft.
to open an online post in Blogsy to edit.If you would like to Edit HTML or need to paste embed codes then just swipe with three fingers across the screen to flip to the HTML side.
Here's a quick overview pointing out where to go to do all the things you want to do.
To get more information about how to use Blogsy go to “Settings” → “How-To Videos” or “How-To Guide”.
Posted with Blogsy on an iPad